WASHINGTON, Feb 6, (Agencies): President Barack Obama on Monday ordered new sanctions into force on Iran, including its central bank, seeking to tighten a choke hold on Tehran’s economy as a nuclear showdown deepens.
Obama signed an executive order implementing parts of a new sanctions regime passed by Congress late last year at a time of high tensions with Iran and rampant speculation about a possible Israeli strike against its nuclear sites.
The measures block all property and interests of the Iranian government, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and all Iranian financial institutions that come within US jurisdiction.
Previously, US institutions were required to reject, rather than block, such Iranian transactions.
The measures, passed with wide majorities in Congress last year, also included a requirement for Obama to impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions that do business with the CBI or other Iranian finance firms.
That move was designed to strangle Iran’s access to foreign finance and commerce and to cripple its lucrative oil and energy industry by effectively barring foreign firms that do business with Tehran from the US financial system.
Obama’s action on Monday however does not implement those sanctions, but the Treasury Department warned that firms doing business with Iran “remain at risk” of US punishments.
The president has the power to issue waivers to halt the impact of such sanctions, once they come into force, every 120 days.
Senior White House officials are currently studying the measures passed by Congress to find a way to implement them that maximizes pain for Iran, but does not cause a huge spike in oil prices, for instance, that could harm the fragile US economic recovery.
Meanwhile, Obama said the US has a “very good estimate” of when Iran could complete work on a nuclear weapon, but cautioned Monday that there are still many unanswered questions about Tehran’s inner workings.
“Do we know all of the dynamics inside of Iran? Absolutely not,” Obama said. “Iran itself is a lot more divided now than it was. Knowing who is making decisions at any given time inside of Iran is tough.”
Obama said that while he believes the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program can still be resolved through diplomacy, the US has done extensive planning on a range of options.
“We are prepared to exercise these options should they arise,” Obama said during an interview with NBC that aired on the “Today” show.
On Syria, where human rights groups say government forces have killed hundreds of people over the last few days in an effort to contain an uprising against President Bashar Assad, Obama said it is important to resolve the conflict there without outside military intervention.
Obama said a negotiated solution in Syria is possible and said the US has been “relentless” in demanding that Assad leave power.
Obama’s comments come amid increased tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere over the prospect that Israel, a key US ally, could soon launch a unilateral strike against Iran. Fearing that such a step could trigger a broader war and disrupt the international economy, the US and other western nations are scrambling to try to persuade Israel against a strike.
On Sunday, Obama said the US was working in “lockstep” with Israel and did not believe Israel has decided whether to attack Iran, and said he hopes the standoff can be resolved diplomatically.
“I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do,” Obama said during an interview with NBC.
Iran insists its nuclear pursuits are for peaceful civilian purposes, not a bomb.
Iran’s regime says it wants to extinguish the Jewish state, and the West accuses it of assembling the material and know-how to build a nuclear bomb. Just last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would not dispute a report that he believes Israel may attack Iran this spring in an attempt to set back its nuclear program.
Obama refused to say whether the United States would get notice from Israel before any potential strike on Iran.
“I will say that we have closer military and intelligence consultation between our two countries than we’ve ever had,” Obama said, adding, “We are going to be sure that we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this - hopefully diplomatically.”
The United States is leading that persuasion initiative, even though Washington largely has concluded that outside argument will have little effect on Israeli decision-making.
“Any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us,” Obama said. “It could have a big effect on oil prices. We’ve still got troops in Afghanistan, which borders Iran.”
As for the danger of retaliation by Iran against the United States, Obama said, “We don’t see any evidence that they have those intentions or capabilities right now.”
Obama said Iran is feeling the pinch of sanctions but Israel is rightfully worried about its security.
On the economy, Obama was pressed about a prediction he made three years ago on Super Bowl Sunday: “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s gonna be a one-term proposition.” Republican leaders, including former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney, the frontrunner for the party’s presidential nomination, have seized on that remark as millions of people are still hurting economically.
Obama said Sunday, “I deserve a second term, but we’re not done.”
He said the direction of the economy has turned around significantly since three years ago, pointing to a new jobs report last week that showed a surge in hiring.
Blabbing
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned his officials to stop “blabbing” about the possibility of an attack targeting Iran’s nuclear programme, the newspaper Maariv reported on Monday.
Netanyahu is said to have directed the instruction at a number of military officials and government ministers who he believes have been speaking too freely about a potential Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The newspaper, citing unnamed senior officials, said Netanyahu delivered the warning during a meeting with ministers from his Likud party on Sunday.
“Stop blabbing, already,” he reportedly told the officials. “This chit-chat causes huge damage, puts Israel on the front line, and damages sanctions” imposed by the United States and Europe on Iran, the premier reportedly said.
Maariv’s sources said there was concern that Israel “might be perceived as dragging the US into a war with Iran against its will and endangering the US’s national interests.”
The warning came after several statements by senior Israeli military and political officials last week, including Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon who suggested that all Iran’s nuclear sites were vulnerable to attack.
“In my military experience, any site protected by humans can be penetrated by humans,” he said during the annual Herzliya security conference. “At the end of the day all their sites can be hit.”
Speculation has risen in recent weeks, driven in part by comments made by Israeli officials, about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran.
Israel and much of the international community believe that Iran’s nuclear programme masks a covert weapons drive, a charge Tehran denies.
Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East’s only, albeit undeclared, nuclear power, has supported tough sanctions against Iran, but also insisted it retains the option of a military strike to halt its nuclear activities.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday sought to calm concerns about such an attack.
“The non-military options are more numerous than the military alternative,” he told students in the northern city of Haifa.
“When it is said that ‘all options remain on the table’ it should be remembered that there are also non-military options,” Peres said.
He said the Iranian regime’s behaviour would ultimately bring about its downfall.
“They have no positive message,” he said. “Only destruction and killing. They have no future and we shall prevail over them all.”